Elaine Feinstein
Elaine Feinstein FRSL (born 24 October 1930) is an English poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, biographer and translator.Elaine Feinstein, Contemporary Writers, Literature, British Council. Web, Jan. 12, 2014. Life Feinstein was born in Bootle, Liverpool, Lancashire, and grew up in Leicester.Carcanet profile Her father, who had left school at 12, had little time for books, but was a great storyteller. He ran a small factory making wooden furniture through the 1930s. She writes "An inner certainty of being loved and valued went a long way to create my own sense of resilience in later years spent in a world that felt altogether alien. I never altogether lost my childhood sense of being fortunate.Couzyn (1985), p. 114 Feinstein was sent to Wyggeston Grammar School for Girls by her mother, "a school as good as Leicester could provide". She wrote poems from the age of 8, which were published in the school magazine. At the end of the war Feinstein's sense of childhood security was shattered by the revelations of the Nazi extermination camps. She notes "In that year I became Jewish for the first time". Feinstein excelled at school work from this point. She was educated at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. After Cambridge she read for the bar, worked at Hockerill Training College, then as a university lecturer at the University of Essex (1967–70), appointed by Donald Davie.Schmidt, Michael. Lives of the Poets. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007; p. 856. Feinstein married and had three sons. As she started writing again she "came to life again", keeping journals, enjoying the process of reading and writing poetry, composing pieces to help her make sense of experience.Couzyn (1985) p115 She comments that she wanted "plain propositions, lines that came singing out of poems with a perfection of phrasing like lines of music". She was inspired by the poetry of Marina Tsvetayeva and to translate some of her poetry. These were published by Oxford University Press and Penguin Books in 1971. Her first novel was written under Tsvetayeva's influence. "Alive to her family origins in the Russian-Jewish diaspora, she developed a close affinity with the Russian poets of this and the last century." She visited Russia on occasions to research her books and visit friends which included Yevgeny Yevtushenko.http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?owner_id=219 She has written fourteen novels, many radio plays, television dramas and five biographies, including A Captive Lion: the Life of Marina Tsvetaeva (1987) and Pushkin (1998). [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4032558.ece Interview with Elaine Feinstein in The Times] Her biography of Anna Akhmatova, Anna of all the Russias, was published in 2005 and translated into 12 European languages including Russian.Feinstein biography Feinstein has travelled extensively, to read her work at festivals abroad, and as Writer in Residence for the British Council, first in Singapore, and then in Tromsø, Norway. She was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at Bellagio in 1998. Her poems have been widely anthologised. She has served as a judge for the Gregory Awards, the Independent Foreign Fiction Award, the Costa Poetry Prize and the Rossica Award for Literature translated from Russian, and in 1995 was chairman of the judges for the T.S. Eliot Prize.Carcanet Press - Elaine Feinstein Feinstein participated in the 22nd Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in November 2010 and continues to give readings in various countries.A podcast of her interview with Robert Seatter is available at The Poetry Trust. Writing Feinstein's poetry has been influenced by Black Mountain poets, as well as Objectivists. Charles Olson sent her his 'famous letter defining breath 'prosody'.Schmidt, Michael. Lives of the Poets. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007; p. 856. Ted Hughes: "'She is an extremely fine poet. She has a sinewy, tenacious way of exploring her subject that seems to me unique. Her simple, clean language follows the track of the nerves. There is nothing hit or miss, nothing for effect, nothing false. Reading her poems one feels cleansed and sharpened."Elaine Feinstein's Poetry, The Elaine Feinstein Page. Web, Jan. 12, 2014. Recognition In 1980, Feinstein as made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1990 she received a Cholmondeley Award for Poetry and was given an Honorary D.Litt. by the University of Leicester. She has received three translation awards from the Arts Council. Her biography Ted Hughes: The life of a poet (2001) was shortlisted for the biennial Marsh Biography Prize. Her Collected Poems and Translations (2002) was a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She was appointed to the Council of the Royal Society of Literature in 2007. Prizes and awards * 1970: Arts Council Grant/Award for Translation * 1971: Betty Miller Prize * 1979: Arts Council Grant/Award for Translation * 1981: Arts Council Grant/Award for Translation * 1981: Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature * 1990: Cholmondeley Award * 1992: Society of Authors Travel Award * 2004: Arts Council Award Publications Poetry * In a Green Eye: Poems. London: Goliard Press, 1966. * The Magic Apple Tree. London: Hutchinson, 1971. * At the Edge. Rushden, Northamptonshire, UK: Sceptre Press, 1972. * The Celebrants, and other poems. London: Hutchinson, 1973. * Some Unease and Angels: Selected poems. London: Hutchinson; 1977; University Center, MI: Green River Press, 1977. * The Feast of Eurydice. London: Faber & Faber / Next Editions, 1980. * Badlands. London: Hutchinson, 1986. * City Music. London: Hutchinson, 1990. * Daylight. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1997. * Gold. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2000; Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2000. * Collected Poems and Translations. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2002, * Talking to the Dead. Manchester, UK, & Chicago: Carcanet, 2007. * Cities. Manchester, UK, & New York: Carcanet, 2010. Novels * The Circle. London: Hutchinson / New Authors, 1970. * The Amberstone Exit, London, Hutchinson, 1972 *''The Glass Alembic''. London: Hutchinson, 1973 **also published as The Crystal Garden. London: Hutchinson, 1974; New York: Dutton, 1974. * Children of the Rose. London, Hutchinson, 1975; Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1976. * The Ecstasy of Dr Miriam Garner. London: Hutchinson, 1976. * The Shadow Master. London: Hutchinson, 1978; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979. * The Survivors, London, Hutchinson, 1982; New York: Penguin, 1991. * The Border. London: Hutchinson, 1984; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984. * Mother's Girl. London: Hutchinson, 1988; New York: Dutton, 1988. * All You Need, London: Hutchinson, 1989; New York: Viking, 1991. * Loving Brecht. London: Hutchinson, 1992. * Dreamers. London; Macmillan, 1994; * Lady Chatterley's Confession. London: Macmillan, 1995. * Dark Inheritance, London: Women's Press, 2000; Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, 2000. * The Russian Jerusalem. Manchester, UK, & Chicago: Carcanet Press, 2008. Short fiction * Matters of Chance. London: Covent Garden Press, 1972. * The Silent Areas: Short stories. London: Hutchinson, 1980. Non-fiction *''For the Baiting Children in My Son's School Class''. London: Goliard Press, 1966. * Bessie Smith. Harmondsworth, UK, & New York: Viking / Penguin (Lives of Modern Women Series), 1985. * A Captive Lion: The life of Marina Tsvetayeva. London: Hutchinson, 1987; New York: Dutton, 1987. * Lawrence's Women: The intimate life of D.H. Lawrence. London & New York: HarperCollins, 1993. * Pushkin: A biography. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson; Hopewell, NJ: Ecco, U.S, 1998. * Ted Hughes: The life of a poet London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2001; New York: Norton, 2001. * Anna of all the Russias: A life of Anna Akhmatova. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005; New York; Knopf, 2006. *''It Goes with the Territory: Memoirs of a poet''. Richmond, UK: Alma Books, 2013. Translated *Marina Tsvetayeva, Selected Poems. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1971; Harmondsworth, UK, & Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1974. * Three Russian Poets: Margarita Aliger, Yunna Morits, Bella Akhmadulina. Manchester, UK: Carcanet Press, 1979. *Marina Tsvetayeva, Bride Of Ice: New selected poems. Manchester, UK, & Chicago: Carcanet Press, 2009. Edited *John Clare, Selected Poems. London: University Tutorial Press, 1968. *''New Stories 4'' (edited with Fay Weldon). London: Hutchinson / Arts Council of Great Britain / P.E.N., 1979. *''P.E.N. New Poetry 2''. London & New York: Quartet, 1988. * After Pushkin: Versions of the poems of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin by contemporary poets. London: Folio Society / Manchester, UK: Carcanet Press, 1999. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Elaine Feinstein, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 12, 2014. Audio / video Radio plays * 1980: Echoes * 1981: A Late Spring * 1983: A Day Off * 1985: Marina Tsvetayeva: A Life * 1987: If I Ever Get On My Feet Again * 1990: The Man in Her Life * 1993: Foreign Girls, a trilogy * 1994: A Winter Meeting * Lawrence's Women in Love (four-part adaptation) * 1996: Adaptation of novel, Lady Chatterley's Confession Book at Bedtime See also *List of British poets References *Couzyn, Jeni. Contemporary Women Poets. Bloodaxe, 1985 *Davie, Donald. Under Briggflatts: History of Poetry in Britain 1960-80. Carcanet Press, 1989 *Lassner, Phyllis. Anglo-Jewish Women Writing the Holocaust: Displaced Witnesses, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 *Lawson, Peter. Anglo-Jewish Poetry from Isaac Rosenberg to Elaine Feinstein. Vallentine Mitchell & Co *Schmidt, Michael. Lives of the Poets, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007 Notes External links ;Poems *Elaine Feinstein (United Kingdom, 1930) at Poetry International (3 poems) *Elaine Feinstein: Poems for Arnold ;Audio / video *Elaine Feinstein (b. 1930) at The Poetry Archive *Elaine Feinstein at YouTube *Podcast interview with Elaine Feinstein at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival *"Elaine Feinstein – Talking to the Dead" 7 May 2007. BBC (audio 9 min) "Elaine Feinstein" Tuesday 2 July 2002 ;About *Elaine Feinstein at the British Council *The Elaine Feinstein Page Official website. *[http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=12113 "She Means It When She Rhymes: Marina Tsvetaeva: Selected Poems." Review from Thumbscrew. No 17 - Winter 2000/1] Category:Academics of the University of Essex Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Category:English Jews Category:English poets Category:British Jewish writers Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:Jewish poets Category:English women writers Category:Women poets Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:Russian–English translators Category:Cholmondeley Award winners Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century poets Category:21st-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Translators to English